Key Issues

It is an exciting and pivotal time for the Kenya’s creative industries. According to the Kenya Copyright’s Board, the creative sector punches far above its weight for the economy, generating KES 85.21 billion in 2013—a remarkable 5.32 per cent of the national GDP in 2013. It has the capacity to contribute up to 10% of the national GDP by the year 2025, contributing to job creation and sustainable livelihoods of young women and men across the country.

The creative industries generate value that spreads far wider than the sector itself: as a key part of wider supply chains; as a driver of business for other sectors; as a builder of cohesion and national identities; and as a provider of direct jobs for young people in creative occupations and outside of the sector. Kenya is also recognized and respected around the world when its creative industries excel, therefore playing an important role in shaping and evolving how the rest of the world perceives Kenya.

Kenya is trading in an increasingly competitive marketplace, both in the region and globally, and must take strategic actions to establish a dynamic framework for the sustainable growth of local creative industries: build market- oriented educational institutions to inspire and equip the next generation of talent, help creative businesses to start-up and grow, and maintain Kenya’s competitiveness against other regional and international markets.

This multi-sector moderated conversation will explore the scenarios and opportunities available for transforming Kenya and East Africa into a global creative hub, taking into account the shifting global contexts in trade and development, the impact of technology on creative production, the role of intellectual property rights in wealth generation, as well as the internet as a new locus for co-creation and consumption of arts and culture. This will be followed by a moderated question and answer session.